“Every time we turn our heads the other way when we see the law flouted, when we tolerate what we know to be wrong, when we close our eyes and ears to the corrupt because we are too busy or too frightened to speak out, we strike a blow against freedom, decency and justice.”
Robert Kennedy lived up to what he said in this powerful statement and paid with his life for pursuing his declared ideals. Sadly, even in Malta, Daphne Caruana Galizia, a journalist who was exposing corruption, was brutally assassinated.
It takes courage to take a stand and address the corruption and evil that surrounds us. Yet courage is one of the cardinal virtues and it is expected all the more from those of us who profess to be Christians.
Such brave people include Paul Moore, who died prematurely aged 61 last year. He was one of the most outstanding financial whistleblowers in recent history. Moore’s life story is inspirational. Initially, he used his considerable talents to follow the money and high living and admitted to being trapped in the iron grip of greed.
He later changed tack and returned to the Catholic faith of his childhood. He exposed the rot of the current philosophy of economic growth that focusses on profit to the exclusion of everything else. His warning of the banking practice of the HBOS bank led to him to losing his job, his friends and to suffering of severe manic depression. Yet, as he approached the end of his life, he had no regrets, convinced that doing what is right leads to redemption.
He was vindicated when HBOS eventually collapsed, leading to a £20 billion bailout of taxpayers’ money. His stand led to banks being subjected to a more ethical regime.
Another principled example is that of the US lawyer Rob Billot, who placed his career on the line. Despite being a rising star as a lawyer representing large corporations, he turned round to defend a distraught farmer. Like the biblical David, he battled the abusive modus operandi of the giant company DuPont for scandalously and catastrophically contaminating the environment with deadly chemicals.
His tenacity is currently still exposing the scandalous behaviour of huge corporations which, with almost total disregard of people’s health and the environment, callously pollute the US and the rest of the globe.
Billot lost out financially and subjected his life and that of his family to enormous stress. Yet, he succeeded in nailing DuPont.
Similar honourable behaviour is also the subject of a recent film Official Secrets, which portrays the high moral integrity of Katharine Gun, an employee for British intelligence and security who in 2003 lost her job and risked imprisonment by exposing the dishonest conduct of the US and UK governments in justifying the war in Iraq that led to hundreds of thousands of casualties and untold destruction.
Such heroic examples should shame us into realising the consequences of looking the other way, especially when we hold responsible positions that impact heavily on the welfare of our communities.
If people showed solidarity by backing and supporting whistleblowers, others would also be encouraged to speak out. This would lead to a ripple effect towards making our country a better and safer place.